Prayers, Curses, and Promises
by mangafreak7793
Summary: Sometimes wishes are better left unheard,Prayers unanswered.     For one boy who is dragged into a war for a magical artifact that grants wishes.    This is his journey.
1. Chapter 1

There was a disaster ten years ago.

A fire that burned away homes, lives, and memories, leaving only ash.

A tragedy which only a single boy survived,

Wandering through the chaos of fire and flame

Unceasing steps tramping towards the distant hope of freedom

An awkward shuffle, a slip, a fall

Shards of rubble digging into charbroiled flesh

Death was nigh

A smile? But...why?

Joy and...relief?

_'Ah...I'm saved...'_

Gentle hands, calloused and worn,

Shadowed eyes looking into the distance

Past the everyday illusion of destruction and death.

A drawn, thin smile

'_Could I be that happy to see someone alive?_

_Could I ever...save someone?_

_Could I...be redeemed?'_

A boy's last thoughts

Passing into oblivion, out of memory and time

As the twisted tale of Emiya Shirou begins...

] || [

**Chapter 1 **

Prologue

"Senpai?"

A voice broke the veil of silence.

"-Uh," I groaned eloquently in reply, my mind beginning to stir from its slumber at less than unwelcome interruption. It was six o'clock in the morning, and normally, I'd already be up, but I was up later than usual fixing something that Fuji-nee broke in a fit of frustration.

I understand that you get angry at times, Taiga, but you should consider just who has to fix the things you break...especially when you come to wake me up in the morning by hitting me with a shinai!

Still, at least my (sometimes unreasonable) homeroom teacher and older sister in everything but blood wasn't the one waking me up, or I'd probably have a concussion. I guess that's one way she and Old Man Fujimura, her grandfather (and incidentally, the yakuza boss of Fuyuki) are alike, even if she'll childishly deny it - they can be very scary when they want to be.

With her upbringing, she should know by now that people get hurt when they are hit - that's just the way things are.

"Senpai, are you awake?"

Matou Sakura, on the other hand, an underclassman of mine who started coming over in the mornings after I was injured at work and who has become almost family to me, happens to be much more considerate.

So, feeling confident that I wouldn't be hit in the next few minutes, I opened my eyes, as the lingering gloom in my mind was banished by morning light streaming through an open door, as if even the traces of nightmares were gone. Unsurprisingly, since I'd never been one to sleepwalk, I found myself in the musty old shed that I call my workshop, with the lush figure of one who had awakened me silhouetted in the post-dawn glow.

Sakura was smiling brightly, as if counting it a minor victory to catch me dozing when I was usually up long before she arrived, working on whatever the first meal for the day would turn out to be.

"Mm...good morning Sakura," I replied, the faintest trace of a smile tugging at the corners of my lips, as uncooperative muscles protested against being forced into action after enduring a night of ill use. Not for the first time, it struck me that my body would probably work better if I actually managed to drag myself to bed after my training/repair work, but I pushed the thought aside.

Surely, this hardship could be considered extra resistance training, mental shackles that help to build up coordination and endurance in harsh conditions.

...was that too masochistic?

But I dismissed that as impossible. After all, I do worse to myself each night, when I forge a magic circuit and let the sensation of what seems like white hot iron burrow into my nerves and rip apart my spine. Compared to that, dealing with some minor aches and pains was rather trivial, especially with the crisp, cold air to dull the pain and the warmth of my blood to relax it away.

"Good morning, Senpai," Sakura answered cordially, apparently still amused by the way my unguarded expression betrayed my every thought. Well, close to my every thought - it would be a terrible thing if I couldn't at least hide the fact that I was a magus, for example. "Breakfast is almost ready, so please take your time. Oh, but be careful, since Fujimura-Sensei will get mad if you take too long."

...or maybe she was just amused that she'd actually beaten me to the kitchen, so that she would have the chance to show off her improved skills. She was actually worse than Fuji-nee when she started coming over a year and a half ago (a feat in itself, since Fuji-nee can nearly burn water), but lately, the student has almost surpassed the teacher. It's one of the things I find troubling about our relationship now, the other being that she's been growing in certain places recently and some of her casual gestures have started to catch my eye.

"I can't let you do it all by yourself," I protested, getting to my feet. "I'll get up right now, so let's go to the kitchen together."

"Ah… um, Senpai…" my underclassman starts, looking down and blushing slightly.

"Hm? Is something wrong?" I asked, a little self-conscious, looking down at myself to...oh. I was still in my dirty work overalls, and if I went into the house like this, I'm sure that Fuji-nee would give me a tongue-lashing (at the least).

My face must have shown my realization since Sakura only nodded.

"...yes, you should probably change, Senpai," she said, frowning as she looked at my rumpled clothes. "I'll finish up breakfast while you do."

I sighed, shaking my head. It seemed there would be no getting out of this one.

"Sorry for troubling you," I mumbled in apology, a bit embarrassed by the situation. "I guess I'll do as you say. I'll go after I get changed. You go on ahead."

"It's no trouble at all Senpai," my underclassman answered, with a hint of cheek. "I'm just doing as I please."

With that she left for the house, leaving me to the mess of my shed.

"Well," I said, slapping my cheeks to shake away my drowsiness as I grabbed my spare uniform and headed towards the bathroom. "Time to get myself cleaned up"

] || [

After taking a shower and getting changed, I then proceeded to the kitchen, hoping to arrive in time for the last of the cooking, since I'd feeling bad for letting my junior do all the work. Alas, I was too late, as Sakura had not only finished making breakfast but was setting the ta-

"HEY, SHIROU COME ON OVER AND LET'S EAT ALREADY!"

...and of course, where there was free food, Fujimura Taiga was readily be found, announcing her presence to the world like the raging beast some call her due to her ferocity and her love of yellow and black striped clothing. Unlike my classmates, I won't even think her nickname in my mind, because if I slipped up and accidentally said it, she'd inflict upon me the pain of the great masters.

_'So much for being a good guardian...'_

Really, Taiga doesn't make a great guardian, since it's mostly me taking care of her, but the company is welcome, as aside from her and Sakura's visits, I've been all alone in this house since my father died half a decade ago. She used to come around when dad was still alive, and after he died, she would pop in to check up on me...though sometimes I think that's her excuse to get a free meal, since in some ways she never really grew up.

...there's something wrong with a world in which she can be a teacher, but life would be how it was, and reality had a habit of being stranger than fiction.

"I'm coming," I answered, since to stay quiet when challenged by the tiger was a recipe for disaster. "Though it isn't as if the food is going anywhere."

Still, I guess I didn't really mind her antics - one comes to expect strangeness from family, after all.

"But I'm starving…." Fuji-nee whined as she rested her chin on the table with a frown, pleading eyes watching my every movement as if she might eat _me_ if I didn't show up fast enough, "and Sakura came here earlier than usual to make us food."

"Eh, Sakura did?" I asked, surprised to hear that. But as I turned to my underclassman, I caught her blushing and looking down, so it seemed it was true.

"N-no, th-that's's not it at all," Sakura stammered, trying to deny it, waving her hands frantically. "I-I just woke up early that's all. There's no special reason I came early today..."

I mentally face-palmed on hearing Sakura say such a thing, as I knew that Fuji-nee would seize on any suspicious remark to tease me or her viciously.

"Ehhh? Is that so?" Fuji-nee commented, a twisted smirk plastered on her face. "But isn't that just what would be expected of a loving wife?"

It seemed that Fuji-nee really hit the mark as every bit of exposed skin on Sakura turned redder than a tomato, her mouth falling open as if stunned.

I really should help out before Taiga pushes too far, since if left to her own devices, the result is usually disaster.

"Stop teasing Sakura, Fujimura-sensei," I lightly scolded her, giving her a reproving glare.

"Kyaa! The husband is sticking up for his young wife! How sweet of you, Shirou!"

This time, it was my turn to blush, though I gamely kept my focus. I could not be dissuaded...even if Taiga had a point that Sakura would make someone very happy someday, as she's the very picture of a Yamato Nadeshiko, and the most beautiful of the first years. Nonetheless, distraction was death, just like when working with Magic Circuits.

"Oh? It's not like you know anything about these things, Fuji-nee," I wryly observed.

It was true enough, since she hadn't ever had a romantic relationship, as far as I can remember.

Silence hung in the air.

The tiger had been stopped dead in her tracks, the blood draining from her face as if I'd called her old or unsuitable for marriage, her eyes staring blankly out into space.

Still, tigers were known for their quick reaction time, and true to name, Fujimura-sensei didn't stay quiet for long.

"WAHHHH! How mean of you Shirou!" the hurt Taiga roared in fury, her body trembling, though with what, I could not tell. I could only hope it wasn't rage, as otherwise, I was in for a world of pain. Thankfully, she calmed, pouting. "Even I want to be a blushing bride, you know."

Somehow, I had trouble picturing such a scenario coming to pass, but I wasn't going to say that out loud. Contrary to popular belief, I was not quite suicidal.

"Oh, but I don't have to worry," she continued, smug satisfaction evident on her face as she countered with a vicious riposte. For someone who pretended to be blissfully unaware of things, she could be surprisingly cruel sometimes. "If no one else will have me, I'll just marry Shirou!"

But no one else will..._wait, what?_

"WAIT, WHAT DID YOU SAY?" I exclaimed, nearly bolting from my seat in surprise as I looked at her incredulously.

"What's wrong Shirou, you don't like the idea of being married to Fuji-nee?" our homeroom teacher answered slyly, her head tilted in a semblance of innocent confusion. Even Sakura as well-mannered as she normally was just stared blankly, having no idea how to respond to this suggestion.

"Sorry, Fuji-nee, but I don't really like tigers," was all I could think to say, as Taiga's eyes welled up with tears.

"YOU GUYS ARE SO CRUEL!"

...thus passed another normal morning at the Emiya household.

] || [

Fortunately for Sakura and me, for all that she was easy to upset, Fujimura-sensei didn't really hold grudges, especially when bribed with an offering of good food. Having gotten hold of her weakness, we exploited it as best we could, giving her a box lunch, after which she set off to school...leaving Sakura and I at the house with a pile of dirty dishes.

Nothing out of the ordinary, since Taiga was never one to clean up after herself, and frankly, letting her into the kitchen would be a terrible idea. I still remember the last time that happened...oh, the horror, the horror.

"Why don't you go on ahead, Sakura?" I suggested to my helpful junior. "I'll do the dishes today."

She'd done enough making breakfast by herself, so the least I could do was to clean up. I would be a failure of a head of household if I let a guest do all the work...

"No, Senpai, let me help," Sakura responded, trying to insist on taking the chore upon herself. Of course, I had a trump card.

"But you won't make it to morning practice unless you hurry. Mitsuzuri wouldn't like it if you were late," I mentioned casually as I turned the faucet to start on cleaning the dishes, smiling to try and soften the blow. "Besides I'll be spoiled if I let you do everything around the house so I have to clean up every once in a while too."

Sakura sighed, lips pressing together in a line.

"...you win, Sempai," she conceded, then cocked her head to the side. "So when will you be home today?"

"I think I'll be a bit late," I answered, thinking about all the work that Issei would likely have for me, or that Neko might at work. "What about you, Sakura?"

"I'll be back at the usual time. I'll probably be here earlier, so I'll start getting dinner ready."

...sometimes I think it's hard to tell who the guest and host are.

After I saw her to the door, I returned to the dishes, washing, rubbing, and drying each plate and dish with mechanical efficiency while my mind begins to wander. Cleanliness was next to godliness, it was said, and while I never put much stock in religion, it paid to be clean at home (just not in the shed, which was only so haphazardly arranged because Taiga kept breaking more things to be fixed).

When I came back to myself some time later, the dish-water was stained a bloody red, an ominous portent, since I was usually more careful.

"Huh?" Realizing the change in the water I pulled back my hands to examine them, finding a raised welt on the left. "Did I cut myself with a knife or something while cleaning?"

No, a knife would have left a deeper cut, and not just a welt. Maybe I've been pushing myself too hard lately, or I've been getting careless about these things. Seeing that Sakura always helps me with the chores it doesn't seem too surprising.

"I really need to be more careful," I sighed, putting the dishes away, bandaging my arm, and then heading off for school. "This time it was just my hand...next time, my Circuits?"

] || [

Since I didn't have morning practice, having quit the Archery Club after my injury at work, I had an ample amount of time before class when I left the house. Thus, I decided to take the long way through the shopping distract to kill some time as well as to look for any special prices on ingredients, so that maybe I could pick up something nice for dinner. Meat wouldn't go on sale till the afternoon, but sometimes, one store or another would post a sign about upcoming specials or lotteries.

"…"

But there were none such today, nothing out of the ordinary...except for a girl about his age with pure white hair standing near the edge of the street.

And to make things odder...wasn't that a nun's habit?

Or at least a long blue dress that resembled one, with the ends of a small black ribbon peeking out from under an expansive white collar. Snow-white hair subtly covered amber eyes as she listlessly gazed at a empty playground, with a bandage covering her left hand in about the same position as mine...

Was she lost? Perhaps a tourist (as odd as one would be in Fuyuki)?

"Hello? Miss, are you okay?" I inquired as I approached her, putting a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to shake her from her trance. For a moment, I saw a hint of crimson…and then the world went upside down as I crashed into the ground

"Ouch!"

Did she just...trip me?

"Did you know that in times of old, you could be executed for touching a maiden of the cloth so casually?"

Callous words in a musical voice, but the girl never even looked at me when she spoke, as if I was beneath her notice.

"Ah, sorry about that," I apologized as I rubbed the bump in the back of my head. Even though she tripped me, I somehow got the feeling that irritating her would probably be a bad thing, especially if she was so quick with her feet. "I just wanted to see if you were ok?"

"It is fine." She responded indifferently, evoking a slight shiver up my spine due to the fact I couldn't tell if she truly didn't mind or if she was simply annoyed. Even so, she kept on staring at the playground.

"So, are you alright then?" I repeated again hoping to gain this strange girl's attention. "I don't think I've seen you around before. Do you need me to help you get anywhere?"

"Do you know that it is a sin to try and woo a maiden who has sworn herself to God despite the fact that it was a poor attempt at best?"

"…."

Did she think I was hitting on her and is judging it?

"I'm not hitting on you!" I responded, denying the accusation outright.

"Oh, then how sad of you to not understand the beauty of God's representative," the woman sighed, bringing confusion to my mind.

What was with this girl?

First she tripped me. Then she thinks I was hitting on her, and finally, she was disappointed when she finds out I wasn't?

"Heh." A slow, dangerous smirk, as the nun closed her eyes in seeming satisfaction. "I am not lost, though it has been some time since I last came here. Merely a bit nostalgic. Is that all you wanted to ask of me?"

"Well if that's what it is then yeah that's it," I sighed, feeling this conversation drain away my energy. I might want to save everybody, but it seemed she didn't need saving, so...

"In that case…." She finally turned to look at me. "I.." And then she froze, amber eyes staring at me, wide in shock.

"Umm, is there...is there something on my face?" I asked weakly, taking a step back under the pressure of her gaze. Or maybe it was that unusual to see a Japanese person with red hair? Some had thought of me as a delinquent before because of that, not realizing that it was natural.

"What is your name?" she asked, seeming to see me for the first time, gold meeting gold in an odd moment before it broke, shock smoothing away to mere indifference once more.

"Emiya Shirou," I responded simply, swallowing in the aftermath of the sudden shock.

Between us, the wind blew.

"Saya….Ajisai Saya."

* * *

><p>Authors note: Editing and plot bunny making goes to AlfheimWander without him this story would not be possible.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Even the most simple of decisions can change the course of life.

So such things must never be taken lightly.

Even if you think to avoid such forks and crossings in the road of life,

Fate will often catch up and throw you off the beaten path.

**] | [**

**Chapter 2**

**The Turning Gears of Fate**

"Ajisai…Saya Ajisai…"

So the girl murmured as she stared at me, her golden eyes flashing in the morning sun as they slowly drifted to my left hand.

She regarded it oddly, and for a moment, I thought I saw her lips twitch into a frown.

Time passed, neither of us speaking.

And then...

"I have an appointment to attend to, so I will take my leave," the odd woman said after a while, before turning pointedly from me and walking away, dismissing me as someone of little importance. Or at least, so I thought, until her voice carried to my ears. "Be careful should you walk the streets at night, Emiya Shirou"

_'Wait, what did she mean by that?'_

I thought about asking her, but in the small interval between thought and action, she was already gone, as if she'd never been in the first place.

**] | [**

Following that encounter, I had had no time to spare, and so was forced to sprint to school to keep from being late-not that it would have mattered much if I'd been there on time or not, as things played out much like every other day.

This meaning that, as usual, Fuji-nee skidded into class after the bell rang, falling on her face and passing out from tripping on the doorway at high speeds, only to awake in a berserk rage after the class chorused "WAKE UP, TIGER!"

...sometimes, it was hard to believe she was older than me, much less my homeroom teacher, but then, as a rule, reality was stranger than fiction. Reality didn't have to be believable, after all.

In contrast to Taiga's rather...emotional outbursts, Kuzuki-sensei (who taught ethics) showed not a trace of humanity at all, almost as if he was a living statue - an automata, his only response to misbehavior being a piercing _look_ that could knock the wind out of someone by pressure alone.

...and those were just two of the teachers at this school.

On the rare occasions I actually thought about it, I would wonder to myself if this could actually be thought of as a 'normal' school, given all the strangeness surrounding the place. But usually I'd come to the conclusion that it was, even if it lacked the "Seven Mysteries" that heavily featured in the rumors and superstitions of other schools.

...those being rather meaningless anyway, since nothing really came of rumors, and things like possessed anatomy models, blood-sucking demons living in the basement of the school, curses which drained away life, and other such didn't exist.

Well, at least not in the form most thought they did - contrary to what my late father thought, I _did_ know a few things about magecraft. Just nothing I could really use besides strengthening.

Anyway, nothing out of the ordinary occurred, so after the events of the morning, I settled down to have lunch with my good friend Ryuudou Issei, a monk in training studying to become head of the Ryuudou temple, and current head of the Homurabara Student Council.

You'd think such a straight-laced, serious guy would be hard to get along with, with his upbringing and social views, but he in the time I'd known him, he'd turned out to be surprisingly affable - well, unless your name was Tohsaka Rin (the school idol).

"Thank you for repairing the heater earlier," he said while pushing up his glasses and looking over some paperwork. "You managed to help the Student Council stay within our budget."

Then again, I suppose it didn't hurt that I was also the unofficial school janitor / handyman, rumored to be able to clean or fix anything at need, without charging exorbitant rates like repair shops might - or that I usually shared some of my food with the (meat-deprived) monk in training.

"It's no problem Issei, I'm glad I could help," I replied, dismissing the thanks as unnecessary. And to me, it really was, because if what I did helped people, then that was thanks enough. "Need a sausage or two?"

Issei raised an eyebrow at the offering, but certainly did not refuse.

"You're a good man, Emiya," the student council president noted as he took the food items in question, scarfing them up as if he hadn't eaten in days. Then he sighed, shaking his head. "It's nice to know there are some good people left in this city."

"Come on Issei, I know you dislike Tohsaka but you don't have to exaggerate…."

"She's the devil and you know it!" Issei interjected, eyes wild and agitated for a moment before he regained his composure. "However it's not her I'm talking about." Slowly, he took hold of a nearby teacup and began to slowly drink from it, his glasses flashing in the light as his expression went grim. "Frankly I'm sort of surprised you haven't heard of it."

"Heard of what?" I asked, curious as to what he knew.

"Lately, there have been several murders around Fuyuki, with all the victims involved being young women."

_Ba-dump_

"Mur...ders?" I repeated, my mouth suddenly dry as my eyes shot to the face of my friend. "Young women?"

"Indeed," Issei's answered darkly while adjusting his glasses once again - a habit of his that he did whenever he was uncomfortable with a situation. "On top of a number of disappearances and coma incidents as well."

_'...disappearances? Coma incidents? But that was almost like...'_

...magecraft.

It almost sounded like someone was harvesting people to use as experimental subjects, with the corpses or coma victims that were eventually discovered being those who had failed. Either that, or there was a vampire outbreak in town.

Neither option was especially appealing, as I had no idea what I could do against either threat with what little power I had. In a battle between mages, one had to be willing to put one's life on the line, but what good would that do if I had no chance of victory to begin with.

...I'd never once managed to beat my father, after all, even in a friendly spar where he held himself back.

"Is there...a connection between them?" I asked hesitantly, trying to make sense of these events. "Any links?"

"I don't think so," Issei answered, shaking his head wearily. "Both certainly target young women, but otherwise, the two incidents seem to be carried out in an entirely different fashion."

Before he could explain further, the bell began to ring, signaling the end of lunch, whereupon Issei immediately stood up and began to pack up his lunch in a orderly fashion.

Still, as efficient as he usually was, he paused in his routine to look at me for a moment.

"Emiya, I know you might want to investigate, but you should let the police handle it,"

He warned me, knowing firsthand my penchant for trying to do what I could to help, even if it was unwanted. "And further, don't stay out too late at night. Even if you have a part-time job, the school has started to enforce a curfew, and you don't want to be reported to the police for loitering."

'_...not that the police would do anything to me anyway, given that I'm apparently close to Fujimura Raiga,' _I thought to myself, though I noted that Issei seemed worried. _'Must be because his temple is getting swamped from the many funeral services...' _

"I'll keep that in my mind so don't worry too much," I acknowledged, nodding.

"Well at least that's one thing off my mind," the Student Council President said, sighing as he once again fiddled with his glasses and finished packing up. Then, he left, disappearing through the door while muttering something about 'budgets' and 'a harpy who accused him of short-changing the athletic clubs.'

_'...why does that sound like Mitsuzuri...?'_

Best leave that alone.

"Issei really does worry too much," I grumbled, as I too packed up my things so to get to afternoon lessons on time. "It's not as if I have nothing better to do than walk the streets at night. And even if I did, what's the worst that could happen?"

...shortly afterward, I would learn the folly of tempting fate.

**] | [**

Hours later, night had fallen, with the empty halls of the all-but-deserted school illuminated only by the ghostly light of the moon.

Well, not completely deserted, as the sound of frantic footsteps echoing like gunshots down the corridors could attest, along with a rhythmic _thump-thump-thump_ that was probably the sound of my heart pounding like a jackhammer as it forced blood through my body, straining to give my muscles the oxygen they needed as I ran for my life.

'_Wh-What was that?' _

My thoughts ran rampant as I tried to process what I had seen minutes earlier - what had happened shortly after I left the archery dojo late at night.

It had all started when I agreed to clean the dojo, taking the place of my old "friend" Matou Shinji (Sakura's older brother), who wanted to spend the after-school hours going on a group date with a few girls.

I knew I was being used, that Shinji was a flake and a scoundrel who barely showed up to archery club practice (and bullied the underclassmen when he did), with no intention of performing the duties of vice-captain, but I couldn't really say no. After all, if I did, then who would take care of the dojo? The work had be done by someone, as it wasn't as if I could force him to do it...

By the time I finished, it was dark outside.

Remembering the odd warnings I had received today, I locked up quickly and prepared to head home, though I was distracted by series of metallic _clangs_ coming from the field.

Thinking that maybe some delinquents had remained behind and were causing trouble, I went to see what was going on...only to find out that my initial assumptions were quite mistaken.

Whatever was going on, it wasn't a fight between mere delinquents.

It was a battle between monsters, with killing intent beyond measure seeping into the very air as the combatants moved at the speed of thought, a whirling frenzy of blood and madness that was terrifying to behold.

To the amateur magus known as Emiya Shirou, witnessing this scene was the equivalent of seeing a natural disaster takes form before my eyes - a vision of terrible power and destruction that somehow I could not look away from.

The fact that Tohsaka Rin, the top student of our year (and school idol) was nearby, watching the battle without any hint of shock or surprise, only determination, as if this - her demeanor in the world of night - was her true face.

Could she...be a magus?

Stunned by this, I unwittingly took a step back - and accidentally kicked over a nearby can, the sound of which echoed across the field...

_'...damn.'_

...causing the three figures in the dervish of death to turn in my direction, triggering my fight or flight instincts.

Well, my _flight_ instincts, anyway. I wasn't so naive as to think I stood a chance in combat against any of those..._monsters._

_'What the hell is going on? Why were those guys fighting? What was Tohsaka doing there?'_

These questions and more ran through my mind as I ran, my feet pelting the cement as I poured power into my legs, hoping against hope that I'd be able to flee from-

_Whump!_

My heart stopped for a moment as I received a fearsome blow to the chest, arresting my momentum and reversing it, sending me crashing against a shoe-locker with a sickening _crack!_

_'...crap. I think those were my ribs...'_

I tried to gulp in air, recovering the wind that had been knocked out of me, but ceased as a sharp pain stabbed into my chest on inhalation.

_'...yeah. Definitely the ribs.'_

What...what had just happened? Why...

"Nice try, kid," a half-amused voice spoke from above me, from some human shaped form that seemed to be dressed in blue. "That running wasn't half bad. Too bad it won't do you any good."

My eyes, blurred with tears from the pain, blinked twice, clearing away some of the liquid, as they slowly focused on the form of my assailant.

It was definitely one of the combatants that had been fighting on the field earlier. A slender man, fairly tall, with European features, wearing a blue jumpsuit with silver pauldrons. His blue hair was odd enough, but what struck me as most unusual were his crimson eyes, eyes that carried the same ominous feeling as the long..._spear? _he was carrying.

"What...?" I managed to croak out, trying to force power into my arms but-_whump!_ I was brutally slammed into the ground once more.

"Sorry, kid, it's too trouble to explain to someone who is going to die," the spearman said casually, raising his weapon. "It's nothing personal, just bad luck on your part."

And with that, he slammed his crimson spear through my chest, piercing my heart with the casual ease with which someone else might throw away a piece of trash.

Pain...unbearably sharp pain.

Eyes widened for a moment, amber meeting red.

And then it was over, as the spearsman and his weapon disappeared from sight, as if they'd been nothing more than a dream, a figment of my imagination. Or well, that was what I would have liked to think, only I knew that figments of my imagination wouldn't leave a gaping hole in my chest.

_Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump._

My heart strained and beat, trying to cling to dear life, to press on, despite the damage - but it was no use. Slowly, my chest filled with blood, my lungs collapsed - my eyes slowly closed.

Pain. Such...pain...

I tried to speak, to whisper, to yell from the pain, but I couldn't move at all, like I was a puppet whose strings had been cut.

Everything went black.

Was this it...? Was I dying…?

"_Hey, you look like you have some talent. Care to join our club?" A year ago. A smiling girl with sharp eyes dragging me to the dojo despite the fact that she was supposedly just 'asking' to recruits. _

Was this how it was to die?

"_That's was some nice shooting, though not as good as me of course." Six months. A cocky friend of mine with seaweed-like hair, who complimented me when we both joined the Archery Club._

To remember all the events in your life as if looking at a kaleidoscope?

"_You're a good man, Emiya." The Student Council President said, thanking me for coming early to fix the school's equipment._

I didn't want to die.

"_Damn it Emiya, just take the raise already! You did more than your share of the work, and I won't be said to have cheated you!" My employer yelled at me, her usual laid back self turning into annoyance with my self-sacrificing attitude._

Not like this.

"_Senpai, since your injured maybe I could help around the house...if you don't mind?" A nervous but sweet underclassman of mine, who had appeared at my doorstep, concerned with an injury I'd suffered at work - an injury which prevented me from going to practice._

Not without saving anyone.

"_Hey, my name is Fujimura Taiga though call me Fuji-nee for short." A woman in tiger-striped clothing introducing herself to my father and I for the first time as our new neighbor. _

Not without reaching my dream.

"…_When I was a kid, I wanted to be a Hero of Justice." A tired man, worn out by the trials and tribulations he'd lived through. A man who saved me and let me called him father. A man who I'd admired deeply and wanted to be._

Not without fulfilling his dreams.

_'I...I can't die here...'_

Eyes opened once again, and with great pain, I tried to force power into my body, to make myself stand - but to no avail.

This time, stubbornness enough to outlast a mule wouldn't be enough.

_'I must not die here!'_

_"You...you are very strange…" _An odd voice, echoing in the back of my mind. A soft voice_, _half-remembered, half buried beneath the desire to forget. _"But I will hold you to that promise."_

Who...who was that?

Why was I remembering it, on the edge of death?

My mind began to fade, my eyesight failing, the darkness closing in. I'd lost too much blood, my heart was in ruins - there was no way I could survive, much less retain consciousness.

Yet even so, I tried to remember the scene, to solve that final mystery of a memory I didn't recognize.

I wanted to live. I wanted to survive. I wanted to know why I found it so important.

And just as I fell into the depths of darkness, a small voice echoed one last time, seemingly..._amused_.

"_Rejoice, Emiya Shirou...your wish shall be granted!" _

**] | [**

_**Interlude**_

Rin Tohsaka was what most people would consider a genius, or even a prodigy. She had excellent grades, was excellent at sports, and of course had a figure and grace that drew the attention of the male (and female!) population of Homurabara Academy alike.

In short she was a veritable idol to the students, and everyone knew it.

What everyone did not know, however, what only a very select few had reason to know, was that the facade she put up was a lie.

That she excelled in these things not because of her talent or skill, but because she was a magus.

As the Second Owner of the spiritual land of Fuyuki and the last representative of one of the three families who had founded the Holy Grail War, responsibility weighed heavily upon her shoulders. She had a job to do - a duty to ensure that magecraft was not abused in her territory - that civilians did not get caught up in the vicious quarrels of those from the moonlit world.

But nothing had gone as planned.

She'd summoned the wrong Servant - an _Archer_ instead of a_ Saber_ of all things (and had blown up most of her living room in doing so)!

She'd forgotten to check for the presence of others, naïvely thinking that no one would be in school at this time of the night due to the 'murders' and 'disappearances' that had the public fraught with peril.

And she'd failed to prevent a bystander from being _silenced _by her opponent, who didn't seem the sort to be satisfied with mere memory modification. Oh, she could tell herself that she hadn't, that there was no confirmation of the other's death yet, but it was only a matter of time.

A human could not defeat a Servant - that was an absolute truth. A human could not even match a Servant.

And a mere bystander, not even a magus?

The odds against the man's survival were so ridiculous that frankly, she expected to stumble upon a corpse, sprawled in a still-cooling pool of blood.

...what she saw instead however, was much more shocking.

Oh, there was certainly a large pool of blood covering the middle of the hallway, and a locker that had been dented...but nothing else.

There was no corpse to be found, no cooling body - not even a body part.

….just a trail of bloody footprints, leading away...

_'What on earth...?'_

But she had no time to ponder this new quandary, as her Servant contacted her at that moment, letting her know that he had tracked down their enemy.

Shaking her head, she wasted no time pushing the puzzle of the man's survival out of mind as she ran, heading to the confrontation with all due speed.

* * *

><p>Editing and Plotbunny raising is all in thanks to AlfheimWanderer.<p> 


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